Chris Mepham On The March Back To The Premier League With Black Cats

Ian Mitchelmore claims that although Chris Mepham dropped a level when he joined Sunderland, his prospects of playing for Wales could soon increase once more.

The degree of success Sunderland would experience in their debut season under Régis Le Bris, a relatively unknown manager, was beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.

Chris Mepham, who joined the Black Cats on a season-long loan from Bournemouth in an attempt to gain regular playing time, may be somewhat comparable.

In that sense, he has succeeded in doing so.

Since relocating to the Stadium of Light in late August, the center-back has started all but four of his team’s Championship games.

Luckily for Sunderland, their run of five straight losses to close up the regular season did not prove expensive in terms of qualifying for the playoffs because of their generally outstanding early-season play.

Regardless of whether he is involved in a promotion in the upcoming weeks, Mepham can be proud of his efforts leading up to his team’s away first leg semi-final play-off against Coventry City on Friday night.

He leads all Sunderland players in the Championship this season with an average of 6.1 clearances and 0.9 blocks per game.

They all agree that Mepham can handle the more traditional aspects of the game, as evidenced by his second-best average of 2.9 aerial duels won per game among his teammates.

He hasn’t been as popular under Craig Bellamy, who obviously wants Wales to control the ball more than they did under Rob Page, but that emphasis on his game may help to explain why.

In fact, under the current national team manager, the 27-year-old has only made two appearances in eight games.

However, he did start the most recent match in North Macedonia, helping to ensure that the visitors were mainly unbeaten until Bojan Miovski scored late on thanks to a careless pass from Joe Allen. David Brooks then scored a thrilling equalizer in the closing seconds to help Wales continue their undefeated run under Bellamy.

In addition to contributing two tackles and one interception, he won the most aerial duels—seven—of any player on the field in Skopje.

The only Welsh player to make more clearances than Mepham’s six was Joe Rodon (10).

In addition, the Leeds player was the only player from Wales’ starting 11 to have a pass accuracy rate greater than Mepham’s incredibly remarkable 95.2%, at 96.1%.

Bellamy, who also has players like Ben Cabango and Ben Davies playing in center roles at the back, should benefit from this.

Although sources indicate the Cherries have the option to extend Mepham’s contract with the club for an extra 12 months, his efforts are also opportune since his Bournemouth contract ends this summer.

However, it seems that the Welshman’s chances of playing regularly at the Vitality Stadium in the foreseeable future have decreased, as Bournemouth is thriving under Andoni Iraola.

Additionally, he has never concealed his affection for Sunderland, and he recently hinted that he would be amenable to a permanent relocation to Wearside.

“I love my connection I’ve made with my teammates and the staff and fans, and if it’s a possibility in the summer (permanent return) it’s definitely one I’d be open to,” he stated to The Northern Echo in March.

It also became clear that Bellamy’s next move, if there is one, will be heavily influenced by his continued involvement.

“We have important Wales games coming up in the summer and I’m sure those (future) conversations will happen at some point,” said the center-back.

Mepham has benefited greatly from moving down a division in the current campaign after having a miserable 2023–24 season in which he started only six Premier League games.

The defender’s hopes of playing in the Premier League and for Wales could be greatly enhanced during the course of the upcoming month.